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María Elena Collado, BA, Laura Villa, BA, and Cuautli Suárez, BA. Research area, Ipas Mexico, Pachuca 92, colonia Condesa, c.p. 06140, Mexico City, Mexico, (55)52-11-83-81, mariaelenac@ipas.org.mx

Ipas Mexico conducted research during 2005 in marginalized urban areas of Mexico City and Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala on adolescents' sexual and reproductive health perceptions, ideas, knowledge and behaviors. We used qualitative (focus groups, in depth interviews) and quantitative approaches (survey with 500 adolescents) with adolescent men and women between 14 and 19 years of age. Selected adolescents had different characteristics, including presence or absence of sexual activity and having experienced at least one pregnancy.

Findings from this study highlight three general points that explain the obstacles to promoting adolescents' sexual and reproductive health. (1) Traditional gender constructions that puts adolescents at risk for HIV-AIDS and ITS transmission; (2) Presence of myths and lack of detailed information on pregnancy and HIV-AIDS (3) High incidence of unions with partners linked to pregnancies and low future life expectations.

These results provide important starting points for discussing the role of human rights in promoting and improving adolescents' sexual and reproductive health, especially in terms of future expectations related to childbearing and marriage. Human rights must be appropriated by adolescents before they can view compliance with such rights as one strategy for taking new paths out of unwanted living situations.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.- Identify the sexual and reproductive health-related knowledge, needs, and behaviors of adolescents of marginalized urban adolescents in Mexico.
• 2.- Understand the ways in which marginalized urban adolescents put into practice risky sexual and reproductive behaviors.
• 3.- Discuss the challenges to incorporating a human rights approach to promote sexual and reproductive health behaviors among marginalized urban adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Sexual Risk Behavior

Related Web page: www.ipas.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered